Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
The coronavirus crisis shows that our traditional ideas about ‘security’ are totally wrong
Safety and security cannot be found in an ever-expanding military — and it’s taken a deadly pandemic to show this, says SYMON HILL
An Emergency Department Nurse
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
WHAT makes you safe? What makes you secure? There are many likely answers during the coronavirus crisis: the NHS, regular hand-washing, the support of family and friends.
Many would feel safer if the NHS were better funded, if social care were more readily available, if mental health services were not woefully inadequate.
But who would say that safety can be found in bombs and guns and a nuclear-armed military alliance?
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In the second part of a two-part article, CONOR BOLLINS asks why the government’s ambition when it comes to the military is not applied to sectors where it could do real good
While working people face austerity, arms companies enjoy massive government contracts, writes ARTHUR WEST, exposing how politicians exaggerate the Russian threat to justify spending on a sector that has the lowest employment multiplier
